please stay as long as you need
by champion lyra
Summary: There was nowhere he felt safer. —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. For HugSaku Week!


**Notes**

Here it is, my third and final thing for HugSaku week :'D I wanted to do all six days, but unfortunately, it just wasn't possible this time around :( Even still, I'm excited to read what everyone else has written! It's so nice to see that even with VRAINS ending next week (I can't believe it's already that time...), people are still making new events and creating new content for the series. I have a lot of VRAINS stuff planned for the future, but it's good to see I'm not the only one, haha.

All that aside, I hope y'all enjoy my fic! This one is **DataStormShipping **again, using the prompt, of course, **Three Things**!

* * *

_You Lose_.

_No, no_, he thought, shaking his head desperately before the jolt went off. He didn't want to feel it again. He didn't want to get thrown against the wall again. Not eat again. He was tired, his stomach hurt, his _skin _hurt. The dull ache was becoming replaced with that awful, awful burning – burning in his veins, burning in his lungs. It felt like someone had lit a match and shoved it down his throat.

_You Lose_.

The angry words and the shock sent him flying backwards, and as he opened his eyes he saw -

A light bulb at the top of the ceiling. A deep, ragged breath, and a blink, and this time, the whole ceiling came into focus. It wasn't just white, it was an off white, and he could see the bumps from the supposedly fancy plaster. He sat himself up, blinking once, twice, before looking down at his lap.

Yusaku could rationalize away where he was all he wanted, but he could still feel the sweat sticking to his skin; could still feel his heart pound in his chest. Could still feel the jolt of electricity through his veins.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he did his best to breathe properly, but it only came out in short bursts. In the dark behind his eyes, now, the shapes started to take over once again. The familiar light fixture and bumpy white ceiling he'd been able to see so clearly morphed into that all encompassing white room, with the extremely bright lights and nothing else but _white-_

A cool, firm hand pressed against his back, completely still and not moving. Yusaku shuddered, but his eyes did not open. Instead, they pressed together more; his mind spinning around a mile a minute. His teeth were clenched now, too, his jaw aching from the pressure.

"Hey, you."

Just like that, Yusaku's eyes snapped open. _That _was familiar. He knew that voice.

"Think of three things. Three things you're feeling," the voice told him, and Yusaku blinked, letting his eyes focus again. It was dark in the room, but he could make out a door. That was different enough from that room. It would do for now. Slowly, Yusaku's jaw loosened.

There was still the pressure on his back, from a hand. "Hand on my back," he said, tearing the words from his throat. It was painful to speak, his throat felt like sandpaper, but he pushed through. "Pants sticking to me." Slowly, he unclenched his hands, having not even realized that the blanket was being squished into them. "Blanket in hands."

"Can you breathe for me?" The voice asked, and Yusaku thought about it for a moment before he slowly nodded.

He shuddered as he let out a ragged breath, and the hand on his back began to rub small, comforting circles into him, making sure to keep the touch firm. It was like it knew that anything light would set him right back off again.

Trying again, he let himself breathe in slowly, trying to imagine his lungs inflating while keeping his eyes wide open and on the closed door embedded into the wall. _One, two, three, _then he let the breath out. Another repetition, and then another, and slowly, he started to realize where, exactly, he was.

Last night, he had stayed over Ryoken's house - mansion. They were in Ryoken's room, the door in front of him was closed even though it was only them and Spectre in the house. They were on his bed, the blankets scattered about now, besides the one that Yusaku still held in his hands. Ryoken was sitting up next to him, still rubbing small circles into his back; which was sticky from sweat.

Though his body was still rigid, some of the tension was slowly starting to slip out of him. He hated feeling like this, getting like this still, when everything was over and done with. Rationally, he knew Kogami was dead. He knew that there was no more Lost Incident. That Hanoi was disbanded. That, even if all of that _wasn't _true, he could take care of himself now. He was older, stronger, more aware. He wouldn't just fall back into that room so easily. And the person beside him would never let that happen, anyway, even if somehow, Yusaku himself ended up powerless.

All the rationality in the world didn't stop the nightmares, though, even if nowadays they were few and far between. They didn't happen like they used to, plaguing him every night and making sleep something he only did when it was absolutely necessary.

Shuddering out a breath, he pressed himself into Ryoken's hand, which slowly guided him into his partner's chest. "Sorry I woke you," he said, voice muffled against the material of Ryoken's pajamas.

Yusaku was sure that wasn't exactly a pleasant way to wake up. Ryoken, though his nightmares weren't nearly as all encompassing as Yusaku's could be, did sometimes jolt awake in the dead of night. While Yusaku didn't mind - he loved Ryoken, after all, and was always happy to be of help to the older boy - it wasn't a way he looked forward to being woken up.

Ryoken shook his head, his arms tightening around Yusaku's body. Without thinking, Yusaku returned the gesture. "It's quite alright," he replied, voice husky from sleep. "I don't mind."

They both sat like that for a bit, leaning onto each other for support. No longer needing just firm touches, Ryoken moved one of his hands to stroke the back of Yusaku's head, and he pushed his face farther into Ryoken's chest in response. There was nowhere he felt safer.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, his voice a whisper. It was a courtesy question, they both knew.

Shaking his head, Yusaku settled the other side of his face into Ryoken once he was finished. "No. What time is it?"

It was difficult to maneuver himself around without letting go of Yusaku to grab his phone, but Ryoken managed, pushing Yusaku more into his lap as he did so; Yusaku's legs wrapping themselves around his waist with practiced ease. He was still sticky and exhausted from the nightmare, but he knew that Ryoken wouldn't mind.

"Five in the morning," came Ryoken's reply after checking. "Do you want to bother going back to sleep?"

Taking a deep breath, Yusaku allowed himself a minute to think about it. It was Sunday; he didn't have classes and Ryoken didn't have work. He couldn't remember, mind still a bit foggy from everything, but he didn't _think _they had anything specific planned today. Probably just to get lunch or play it by ear, depending on what they were both up for.

Thinking on it, Yusaku shook his head no once again, feeling Ryoken rest his chin on the top of his head. "No, it's not worth it," he said, eyes closing for a moment.

Humming, Ryoken laid them both back on the bed, with Yusaku resting upon his chest still. "I probably shouldn't start breakfast yet, right?"

Subconsciously, Yusaku scrunched up his nose. The idea of eating at the moment was a nauseating one. His nightmare may have been over, and he may be a lot less panicked then he was ten minutes ago, but he certainly was not ready to stomach anything to eat. Especially with the way that Ryoken always tried to feed him breakfast. Never had he ever minded his boyfriend's kind-hearted desire to get him back to a healthy weight so much.

"_Definitely _not," he agreed, moving his arms out from under Ryoken so they wouldn't go numb. He may be feeling better, but he didn't want to push it.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, content to just stay in the other's company. They both knew the other wasn't in any danger of falling back asleep - they were both the kind of people that once they were awake, they were awake for good. It had made for some unpleasant nights where they were both plagued by unrest at ungodly hours of the morning, so Yusaku considered himself lucky that it was only about an hour before he usually started his day.

"How about a walk, then?"

Despite how close they were to the ocean, the two of them rarely went out for walks, honestly. They were either too busy, or too tired, or something else popping up in the way of letting Yusaku experience just walking around and _relaxing_ for once in the outdoors. At five in the morning, when not a soul would be out and about in such a far off area, it seemed like the perfect time to rectify that.

So Yusaku pushed himself off of Ryoken's chest, giving the older boy a small twitch of the lips in place of a real smile. "Yeah, that sounds good."

* * *

Though the ocean wasn't showing off its light that morning, Stardust Road was still beautiful as the beginning of sunrise started to reflect off of the water.

It hadn't taken long for Ryoken or Yusaku to wash up and change into suitable clothes and head outside, a warm mug of coffee in one of Ryoken's hand; the other holding Yusaku's own. It wasn't terribly chilly out that morning, but even still, the idea of leaving his house without at least some caffeine was blasphemous to Ryoken, Yusaku knew.

It was… peaceful, there, in this tucked away section of Den City. The part of the city that Yusaku lived in was always busy, as it was the poorer side of town. His dingy apartment building was in the poorest neighborhood of all, and thus, the people there were constantly coming and going to their second or third jobs. And he was never in a quiet area while he was at classes, or when he was working for Kusanagi - those places were always hustling and bustling, as well.

The quiet was something Yusaku craved, most days, and he had never realized how truly quiet it could be in the off season around there. Up on top of Ryoken's mansion, it felt like nothing could ever touch him, but he hadn't quite realized that feeling extended all the way down to the shore line.

"I never get tired of coming here," Ryoken confessed, his eyes focused on the horizon. "It's beautiful."

Yusaku nodded along, though his eyes were fixated on something completely different. He tried to commit it to memory, the way Ryoken's hair looked in that specific lighting; the way his shoulders slouched a bit for once; the way his cheeks got a bit red every time he took a sip from his mug. "Yes," he agreed, forcing himself to turn away and look at the water. "It's nice here."

The water, now that Yusaku was actually looking at it, was stunning. The oranges and reds that were shining off of it almost hurt his eyes without bright they were, but he found he didn't want to look away. That, too, was a view that he tried hard to commit to memory. He'd only really ever focused on how beautiful it was in the dark, where the water was the only guiding source of light, but watching everything around them light up as the world began to wake was truly something to behold.

Ryoken pulled him in, placing a light kiss on his lips. Yusaku had physically calmed down now, fully, and the soft touch made him almost melt after such a needlessly stressful morning. When they broke apart, Ryoken awarded him with a rare, full smile. "Thank you for joining me on a walk," he said, but they both knew there was much more behind that _thank you_.

Shaking his head, Yusaku did his best to smile back, his hand squeezing Ryoken's. "I should be the one saying that."

Ryoken's hand gave his a squeeze before disentangling itself; his arm making its way to pull Yusaku into him once again. Yusaku wrapped his own arms around his boyfriend's waist, resting them comfortably on him. The two didn't start out so physically affectionate with the other; in fact, it had taken months and months to get used to casual touches between them. Now, however, after so much time to find a pattern, it felt as natural as breathing.

"Does breakfast sound good now?" Ryoken asked after a moment, his words tickling Yusaku's hair as he spoke.

"Mm," was his noncommittal reply. Yusaku could really care less about they did right now - so long as he was with Ryoken, it didn't really matter to him. "Whatever you want."

Chuckling lightly, Ryoken nudged him a bit, trying to get him to move so they could both walk. "You might regret that later," he warned, and Yusaku shuddered at the idea of what Ryoken thought of as a normal breakfast.

Even so, if it meant Ryoken would smile like that at him again, Yusaku couldn't find it in him to mind. "No," he disagreed, placing a small kiss on his lips before moving away fully. "No, I don't think I will."

* * *

**Notes**

This one was so nice to write, honestly; it's always cathartic to write those kinds of scenes like in the opening for me. Hope you guys enjoyed! Besides a Dimileth fic for Dimileth Week, y'all probably won't see me until October, so see you then~


End file.
